The Rose Quartz War
by Lionheart261
Summary: Yellow Diamond is determined to put the past behind her and restore Homeworld's former glory, no matter how many Gems and planets and even sisters that she has to eliminate to do it.
1. Prologue

Agate. The name alone suggests an air of confidence, a prestige and respectability that only the finest socialite could possess. It suggests tranquility and patience, but also control, precision, and efficiency. Therefore, if you heard that someone by the name of Agate was the chief curator of a prominent museum, you would say, "That museum must run like clockwork with someone like Agate in charge."

However, the Homeworld outpost orbiting a gas giant in the Kappa Reticuli star system is no ordinary museum. Nor is Holly Blue Agate, the overseer of its operation, an ordinary curator or an ordinary Agate.

Holly Blue Agate is not proper or respectable in any sense of the word. Instead of being tranquil and patient, she is loud, overly demanding, cruel, and, in some ways, sadistic. She revels in tormenting and berating her employees, the Amethysts, Jaspers, and Carnelians who were kept alive after the devastating Gem War and its aftermath purely out of Blue Diamond's sentimentality towards her fallen sister Pink Diamond, the Quartzes' original master. This sentimentality also moved Blue Diamond to repurpose her sister's human zoo at Kappa Reticuli into a monument to her legacy, tending to the descendents of the humans abducted and held there during the Homeworld occupation of Earth and giving her Quartz soldiers, whom many would have wanted shattered after one of them shattered Pink Diamond, a purpose.

But returning to the subject of Holly Blue, despite all of her arrogance and callousness, she does have one weakness: she is way too eager to please. Whenever Blue Diamond visits the outpost to mourn her sister, Holly Blue rushes to accommodate her every need, and becomes especially cruel to the Quartzes in an effort to do so with great haste. Seeing as Blue Diamond had been visiting an average of once a week for the last five thousand years, the general mood of the facility was a mixture of tension and resentment. If Gems had the concept of labor unions, one could imagine that the Quartzes would soon form one.

However, the upcoming visit was far from the ordinary: Yellow Diamond would be visiting the facility, but not to see Blue. Were Holly Blue less preoccupied with making her "No good clumps of rock" look respectable, she might have wondered why else Yellow Diamond would visit than to check on Blue. After all, Yellow Diamond had no interest in the facility itself; in fact, Holly Blue had overheard her trying to convince Blue to retire it several times during her visits. However, her need to impress Yellow Diamond outweighed her curiosity. Besides, it was hardly her place to question a member of the great Diamond Authority.

When her ship docked with the station and her palanquin landed in Shuttle Bay 3, Holly Blue could instantly tell that Yellow Diamond had undergone a profound change. Her last visit had her walk through the station's hallways with exasperation as her sister continued to mourn Pink Diamond's loss; now she walked through the halls with resignation and the cold demeanor that she was known and feared for throughout the galaxy approaching absolute zero. What's more, she had brought aboard her own Gems: a tall Diaspore and two large Apatites that accompanied her, and 2 dozen more Apatites which she left milling about in the Shuttle Bay. Holly Blue began to grow concerned, and thought she might clear the air a little, while keeping within the bounds of protocol.

"E-excuse me, your magnificence," Holly Blue began. Yellow Diamond angled her head slightly towards her, the signal for her to continue at her own peril. "M-might I inquire as to where you are going?" She made sure to say "you are" rather than "we are," as assuming oneself to be worthy of being put in the same group as a Diamond was a grievous offence.

Holly Blue had thought she'd be reprimanded for this, but instead Yellow Diamond simply responded, "To my late sister's old office. There are some things I would like to discuss with you."

With no further conversation, lest Holly Blue further endanger herself, she, Yellow Diamond and her attendants, and a pair of Amethysts made their way to Pink Diamond's office within "the Jewel," so named for its placement in the center of the sword-shaped station's pommel and its resemblance to the ornamental jewels often placed within them.

As they arrived at the door and Holly Blue ordered her guards to stand outside, Holly Blue began wondering what Yellow Diamond could possibly want to talk about. Perhaps she wishes to know how the station has gone by in Blue Diamond's absence, she thought. Optimistic, maybe, but it seemed like the only somewhat logical possibility Holly Blue could think of.

The Apatites stood at the shut door behind her. Holly Blue began to feel trapped, but with no other option, she stepped forward to kneel before Yellow Diamond as she sat down in her sister's old desk.

When Yellow Diamond seemed satisfied with Holly Blue's display of reverence, she took a deep breath and hunched over slightly to get a better look at her.

"Agate," she began, "would you say this facility is running efficiently?"

"Oh, yes, your lustrousness!" Holly Blue enthusiastically responded. "It hasn't run this smoothly since Pink Diamond first established it!"

"Hm, yes," Yellow Diamond said, clearly not impressed. She paused for a moment before continuing, "Are the Quartzes performing adequately?"

Agate nodded.

"What about the...specimens?" she hesitated for a couple seconds, as if she was loathe to mention them, but had to for the sake of protocol.

"Oh, no trouble from them, your radiance," Holly Blue said.

"All 107 of them?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"Y-yes. All 107 of them have been behaving properly," Holly Blue added, a bit anxious.

"Hm," Yellow Diamond paused once more, as if in contemplation. She looked down to Diaspore, who handed her a holopad with information of some kind. She seemed surprised at its contents-or rather, tried to act surprised.

"Then tell me: why are there only 105 humans in the facility?"

Holly Blue was shocked, wondering how she could have gotten this information. Yellow Diamond answered the question hastily concealed on her face.

"Don't tell me you forgot why those earrings were inserted into their ear lobes. They're the only way our scanners can keep track of them."

Holly Blue was nervous now, worried as to whether she would be removed from her position in light of this failure. Yellow Diamond going into a tirade about how useless and pathetic she was didn't help in the slightest.

By the time ten minutes had passed, the Quartz guards outside the door, eager to see the look on Holly Blue's face when Yellow Diamond was done with her, called up the other Quartzes to stand outside and watch, being sure to avoid Yellow Diamond's guards lest they be reprimanded for sneaking away from their posts.

Yellow Diamond would have continued for several more minutes had a Peridot from her ship not contacted her, saying, "My Diamond, there seems to be a complication with the-" before she was angrily silenced.

Yellow Diamond proceeded to calm herself, and although Holly Blue was wild with terror, she couldn't help but feel as if Yellow Diamond had exaggerated her visible anger for some ulterior purpose.

"I want an explanation, Agate, and I want it now," she said calmly. Too calmly.

Between her 50 foot tall figure, her sudden shift in tone, and her overwhelming desire to not be demoted, Holly Blue was terrified by Yellow Diamond and breathlessly recounted how the humans, Greg and Steven, had escaped with the help of a band of rebels.

She had just gotten to the part where she had been defeated by the rebels and how the Quartzes had done nothing to prevent their escape when Yellow Diamond shocked her with a scathing, yet false, interjection, "And so you destroyed them all."

In its blatant untruthfulness, both Holly Blue and the Quartzes outside were surprised, with the former hastily attempting to correct her, to no avail.

Yellow Diamond clearly no longer cared to hear her story. She turned to Diaspore and told her, "Begin a new log entry, supplemental: 'What I have witnessed saddens me beyond description. The Holly Blue Agate in charge of this facility has not only failed to report the escape of two humans from the Zoo, but she has also destroyed all of the Quartzes in this facility rather than accept her own failure.'"

Holly Blue was too shocked for words. She attempted to move closer and interject, but the two Apatites at the door quickly fused and grabbed her with both arms, preventing her from moving.

Yellow Diamond continued, "'Based on our sensor data and what we could extract from the Agate, it would seem that she overloaded the plasma conduits in rooms E25 and E36. The resulting discharge completely vaporized the rooms and all of the Amethysts, Jaspers, Carnelians, and Rose Quartzes within them. The entire complement of guards were in their quarters in E25, probably engaged in some sort of social event, when the conduits overloaded. There were no survivors.'"

As Holly Blue continued to plead for her life and point out Yellow Diamond's mistake, the Quartzes outside began to grow worried as well, unsure what Yellow Diamond could possibly be planning in there.

Yellow Diamond concluded, "'I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I will leave behind a staff of 100 of my best Apatites and Peridots to repair and oversee the facility under Diaspore's command until a replacement staff can be acquired. The Agate will be shattered shortly after this log entry is terminated.'" She paused before adding, "'Blue will be happy to know that the humans are still safe and sound, completely unaware of the tragic loss of Pink Diamond's remaining soldiers. I will be returning to Homeworld promptly so that I may oversee the trial of the Rose Quartz who shattered Pink Diamond. I will do my best to not let my grief over this tragedy impede my performance...' End log."

With this thus concluded, Yellow Diamond tapped the communicator within her helmet.

"Y-yes, my Diamond?" A nervous Peridot onboard the ship replied.

"Are the preparations complete?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"Yes, my Diamond. All of the Rose Quartzes have been moved to the flagship and are ready to be loaded onto a troop transport. The plasma conduits can be overloaded remotely at your leisure," the Peridot responded.

"Excellent. That will be all."

"B-but, my Diamond, there appears to be a problem. The Quartzes have-"

"I said that will be all, Peridot," Yellow Diamond curtly replied before terminating the communication.

Holly Blue was struggling with renewed vigor, enraged at what Yellow Diamond was planning to do to Pink Diamond's monument. She questioned her, "You would dare damage this facility? Destroy what remains of Pink Diamond's legacy?"

Yellow Diamond ignored her and turned to Diaspore again, saying, "Diaspore, would you please have Agate here escorted to the ship, and have every Quartz soldier confined to E25 until further notice?"

Diaspore smiled in a conspiratorial and gleeful manner as she said, "Gladly, my most magnificent Diamond."

As Diaspore made the necessary arrangements on her holopad, Holly Blue continued to protest, saying, "How could you do this? Pink Diamond was-"

"Pink Diamond was a weak, pathetic fool," Yellow Diamond interrupted her.

This only served to shock and enrage Holly Blue further.

"She was too foolish to see how far the Rebellion's lies had spread among her subjects. She was so pathetic as to wish to preserve that planet's muck of a dominant species in this facility. She was too weak to crush a disorganized, chaotic mess of defective traitors even when presented with several opportunities over one thousand years of war. And she was weak enough to let a defective clump of Earthen filth destroy her." Yellow Diamond paused for a moment before continuing. "Pink Diamond got no more than she deserved for her weakness." Another pause as she said, with the slightest hint of resignation, "And if Blue's too weak and sentimental to see it that way...then she'll get what she deserves as well."

This flew Holly Blue into a blinding fury, and she surely would've broken free and shattered the Apatite fusion holding her if Diaspore hadn't drained her Gem of energy with her mechanical enhancers, leaving her weak enough to be subdued once more.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking: 'How could she possibly forsake her dearest sister?'" She scoffed before continuing, "It seems her overt sentimentality has infected you as well. Surely you don't think I'm supposed to love her for no good reason?"

Holly Blue would have spoken had the Apatite fusion not been covering her mouth at the time.

"There's only one trait in others that I truly love: perfection. Nothing makes me more appreciative than an equal who is flawless," she said before sneering down at Holly Blue and continuing, "and a subordinate who is respectful of their place."

She stood back up to her full height and continued, "Pink and Blue were perfect once, but now their perfection has been tainted. Besmirched. Defiled. But soon, soon that will be corrected...and all will be as it should be again."

She paused, as if she was making up her mind whether or not to tell Holly Blue her plans. Reaching a decision, she said, with growing rage, "Once that traitorous Rose Quartz pays for her crimes, I'm going to send all of her kin to that hunk of rock she calls home. I'm going to have them shatter her forces and reduce that worthless civilization she allowed to exist to dust. And just when they think they've paid for the crimes of their species, I'm going to leave them to be shattered once the Cluster emerges and splits that planet into millions of shards!" She took a brief pause before she screamed, "And when it does, I'm going to have my ships vaporize every single atom of that pathetic world's surface and its hideous satellite until there's nothing left to indicate that it ever existed!"

Yellow Diamond would have continued her outburst had she not noticed her subordinates' eyes on her. She calmed herself before she resumed her monologue.

"Me and my sisters were designed to be flawless. We were to have no equal in combat, nor in intellect, nor in grace, nor in being. And we were to rule without passion and without weakness. The perfect leaders of a multi-galactic empire." She paused once more before continuing, almost remorsefully, "For almost 5000 years, I've tried to save her from herself. I thought that our great empire could only sustain itself if there were multiple Diamonds to rule it." Another pause. "I realize now that that is impossible. Blue is too tainted to be saved, and logic suggests that it will only be a matter of time before White Diamond becomes tainted as well. But I..." One final pause as she concluded with this statement, delivered with all of her renowned strength and confidence: "I will never be."

By this time Diaspore had made it to the door, and the Apatite fusion had begun to carry Holly Blue, kicking and screaming, towards it as well.

She opened it to find a 50 foot tall, four-armed fusion and 56 other Quartzes blocking the hallway, with weapons summoned and eager for battle.

"I don't know, Yellow," the fusion replied. "I have a feeling you'll end up very besmirched in the next few minutes."

Were Yellow Diamond slightly less confident in her own genius, she might have resolved to actually listen to Peridots from now on; the Peridot who kept contacting her had already detected the Quartzes standing outside the door, and would have alerted the Apatites had Yellow Diamond not clearly dismissed it as irrelevant.

However, Yellow Diamond was more concerned with the fact that she was currently being hit in the stomach and into the wall of the office by a four armed fusion that was as large as she was and carrying a giant shield with which she performed the aforementioned action.

The fusion, who would later identify herself as Tiger's Eye, quickly dispatched of the Apatite fusion after Holly Blue took advantage of her confusion to break free, and Tiger's Eye used her shield to throw it into Yellow Diamond's path before stepping back and tearing into the door mechanism, forcing the door to lock itself and trap Yellow Diamond inside.

Tiger's Eye was about to clear a path through two approaching Apatites when the Diaspore attempted to drain her energy before her equipment was rendered inoperable by Holly Blue's electro whip and the advancing Apatite's Gem destabilizers were overloaded by a surge of electricity from the whip, causing the energy within to explode and destabilize them both.

Her cooperation clearly established, the Quartzes and their former master rushed to the elevator. Holly Blue was worried they wouldn't all fit, but Tiger's Eye had a different idea in mind: to tear out the platform and throw it at 3 more advancing Apatites, knocking them out cold and giving all of them clearance to jump down the shaft straight down to the hallway leading into Shuttle Bay 3, located 7 floors below at "the Crossguard." Using herself as a platform, Tiger's Eye grabbed the walls of the shaft and allowed everyone else to land on her and get into the hallway.

Once they arrived, they found 10 Apatites waiting for them in two lines of 5 each, with each one carrying a Gem Destabilizer. They attempted to fire them, but those with Crash Helmets quickly flew up to them and beat them to the ground, with a few taking their destabilizers and destabilizing the downed Apatites in a matter of seconds. After that, they flew down the tight hallway like a squad of mobile gatling guns, destabilizing most foes and knocking down the rest to be eliminated by the Quartzes and Holly Blue behind them. By the time they got to the Shuttle Bay, only 2 or 3 Apatites were left. They bravely defended the cargo transport the Quartzes headed towards, destabilizing 3 of the Amethysts before being knocked out. Tiger's Eye hurried the Quartzes into the ship until only she, Holly Blue, and 5 Amethysts remained in the hangar. The Amethysts formed a ring around Tiger's Eye as she unfused into two Amethysts and Jaspers, who quickly got up and followed Holly Blue and the others into the ship. No sooner were the Amethysts about to leave than Yellow Diamond burst through the hallway an avatar of pure rage. One of the Amethysts fired her Destabilizer at Yellow Diamond before discovering, to her horror, that it only seemed to leave a small gash across her face, almost as thin as a papercut. Slowly moving up onto the ship, all 5 of the Amethysts fired a long, sustained burst at Yellow Diamond, leaving her howling in pain as she staggered backwards and fell to the ground. They kept at it until they were at the hatch before frantically closing it.

"Get us out of here, Skinny!" One of the Amethysts shouted, frightened out of her mind as Yellow Diamond's screams of rage seemed to be causing turbulence outside of the ship.

The Gem in question, a thin Jasper, replied, "I'm doing the best I can! This is my first time flying this model!"

The ship slowly rose into the air, clanking against the walls before stabilizing and preparing for takeoff.

No sooner had Skinny laid in a course for the nearest star system then Yellow Diamond, still half-blind due to the destabilizers, attempted to strike the ship down with an energy blast. Although she had tried to hit the engines, she ended up instead hitting the port side fuel cannister, causing the ship to leak plasma as it regained balance and shot off on course to the nearest star system before Yellow Diamond could try again.

As they departed, Yellow Diamond got up, rubbed her eyes, and surveyed the damage. Her communicator blipped.

"My Diamond, would you like us to pursue the transport in the flagship?" The same Peridot from earlier asked.

"Not with the flagship, no," Yellow Diamond replied. "Have a squadron of Red Eyes dispatched to search for them. See to it that every single one of them is eliminated." She paused and surveyed the damage to the station before adding one more command: "And contact Diaspore, will you? Tell her I want her to send a staff of 200 to conduct repairs rather than 100."

"It will be done, My Diamond." The Peridot terminated the connection.

As her face finished repairing itself, she looked out at the plasma trail of the Quartzes' transport as it lost its coherence and faded away.

Just one more blemish, Yellow Diamond thought. One more blemish futily standing in the way of perfection.


	2. Chapter 1: Ripples

I know, I know. It's been almost a year since I showed the preview, and I'm just now putting something on paper. I don't really have an excuse. After a while, I guess I lost confidence in my ability to tell this story in a believable manner, and my adherence to canon stopped me from straying too far from its established course. So I just kind of quietly let this thing gather digital dust in my Google Drive, believing that so few people cared to see it continue that it wouldn't make much of a difference. But recently, I've been trying to beat my bad habit of letting things I write die. And resurrecting this fic seems like as decent a step as any. At this point, the story I wanted to tell is so far from what the canon is suggesting that it seems easier to just "alternate canon" it instead of continuously retooling it to fit the canon before the next Steven Bomb throws another monkey wrench into it, so that's what we're doing. I regret that this chapter is mostly just build up, but hopefully now that the beginning is solid I can motivate myself to keep going.

So, without any further ado, I shall attempt to reward some of the unparalleled patience of those few eager for more with Chapter 1 of "The Rose Quartz War." I sincerely hope you enjoy.

:::

Peridot, Facet-2F5L, Cut-5XG practically lived and breathed machines. Once, in about a minute and a half, she built a highly advanced mech suit, in a barn, with a bunch of scrap metal. Another time, she single handedly repaired a communication hub with over 100 components that reached up to 50 stories in the air. And ever since she figured out how to bend metal to her will, her efficiency with repairs had increased exponentially.

And yet, she could not, for the life of her, figure out how to fix the downed Gem dropship.

She, Greg, Connie, and Garnet had tried everything: removing all non-essential systems and cannibalizing the hull to reduce the weight as much as possible, adding a half dozen of Pearl's custom-built fusion engines to replace the burned out nacelles, and Garnet pumping enough voltage into the ship's power systems to power Beach City for a week before unfusing from exhaustion. Despite all of these attempts, the ship could barely escape the atmosphere without nearly breaking apart, let alone travel out into space and somehow travel 100,000 light years to Homeworld in a matter of days while traveling at about 15% light speed.

With a muffled scream of rage, Peridot pushed a button on the "Cookie Cat" transmitter she was given the day Operation Rescue commenced; a mere five minutes after her best friend, Steven Universe, was taken to Homeworld to stand trial for his mother's crimes against the Diamond Authority.

"Gold Leader to White Leader: Our modifications still aren't enough to get the dropship airborne. How are things at the Galaxy Warp?"

After a few seconds, Pearl, the supposed leader of "White Squadron," consisting of her, Amethyst, Lapis, Sadie, and Greg's cousin Andy, replied.

"No luck repairing the Homeworld warp, I'm afraid. We managed to get that old robonoid of yours that we captured online, but it's out of gel. The healing tears we brought from Rose's fountain also aren't having any effect. Lapis did manage to find your old limb enhancers nearby. She thought they could be used to find more leftover robonoids, but it doesn't look like they have much power left in reserve to do so. I doubt they'll be useful towards our present goal."

"Roger," Peridot responded.

"Agh, just-!" Pearl exclaimed briefly before pausing and regaining her composure. "I'll warp Sadie and Andy over to the barn. He's agreed to take Sadie home in Greg's van. Have everyone pack up their things and warp back to base. We'll...we'll figure something out."

"Copy that. Tell White 3 to meet me at the barn with the limb enhancers. They may still be useful."

"...I'll let Lapis know," Pearl replied.

"Excellent," Peridot said. "Gold Leader to White Leader, signing out."

"Will you stop calling me that?! It's stupid!"

"Copy, White Leader." Peridot was getting a little too smarmy by that point.

Before Pearl could cry out in exasperation, Peridot shut off the transmitter and turned back to her "Gold Squadron."

"Alright, Gold Squadron, pack it up! We're heading back to base!"

The others groaned and set about collecting their equipment.

While Garnet and Peridot set about gathering their stuff at a brisk pace, Connie lagged behind, eventually giving up and sitting down on a nearby rock.

"Would you mind scooting over, kiddo?" Greg asked her.

"Hm?" Connie asked, distracted, before processing his request and promptly scooting over.

The pair sat in silence for a while before Greg chimed in.

"Still can't stop worrying about him, huh?" he asked.

Connie looked at him incredulously. "What, like you're not?" she asked.

"Of course I am. I'm worried sick," Greg replied. "But I also have faith that he'll be okay."

He continued, "He's a tough kid. If there's anyone in the universe who can go through this and get back to write a song about it, it's him." He chuckles a bit-Steven probably _would_ write a song about it if he makes it back. _When_ , he reminds himself, _When he makes it back_.

"But even assuming he could escape, does he even want to?" Connie asked. "He thinks he's endangering all of us by being here. Why would he come back? It's not like he doesn't know Homeworld's going to-" she choked back a sob and cut herself off. Both she and Greg knew that if she kept going, she was going to start crying for an indefinite amount of time.

Greg paused for a moment before responding, "I don't know why he would. All I know is that he's going to get back somehow, or else we're going to find a way to get him, and that whatever happens, he is going to make it out okay."

He added onto that with, "It may not make sense, and the odds against that happening may be almost insurmountable, but you know what? Right now my son is being punished for his mom's war crimes against an intergalactic empire in another galaxy a bajillion light years away, and there's nothing I can realistically do about it." He almost finds himself on the verge of crying, but manages to push it down. "I'm not like the rest of you. I don't have engineering skills or metal powers or super strength. Nor was I trained for combat by the most skilled fighter on the planet." He chuckles a bit, then pauses to let that sink in, not sure if he was doing it for Connie's benefit or his own.

He continued, "I have no other option but to convince myself that somehow, by some miracle, he'll make it out okay. I have to keep telling myself that, or else I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning."

Connie took a moment to reflect on what he said. Greg sighed as he got up and took her equipment under his arm.

"5 minutes. I reckon that's all I'll be able to coax out of 'Gold Leader' before she personally drags you to the warp pad." He chuckled slightly at the ridiculousness of Peridot's team designations.

"Copy that, Gold 2," Connie said. She tried a slight smile, but she couldn't make it look like it wasn't forced.

As Greg made his way to the pad, Connie looked up at the stars as she tried to calm down. After a minute of this, so bereft of hope was she that she did something she had long ago dismissed as ridiculous superstition, something totally unthinkable: she closed her eyes and prayed.

"Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya," she whispered, calling upon, ironically enough, the Hindu gods Vishnu, creator of the universe, and Krishna, the 8th incarnation of Vishnu and the god of love.

"Just..." she couldn't quite figure out how to address them, and thus opted for something simple and clean: "bring Steven back to me. Please."

She kept whispering that short request to whoever may have been listening until Greg tapped her on the shoulder and held her hand as they walked together to the warp pad for the third time in as many days. The two looked up at the stars as Peridot left, before returning their gaze forward as they stepped onto the pad and warped home.

:::

Before that night, no one among the Crystal Gems thought it was possible for such a rapid change in emotional state to occur in any being in the fraction of a second necessary for their mind to be able to process an image. Of course, in this case, it was an image that they had always loved, cherished, cried for, and worked to save for the past 2 days.

Steven Quartz Universe.

Naturally, while all of them ran to him the instant he miraculously appeared in the Temple's living room, it was Greg who first moved to embrace his son. After that came Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet, and the five were locked in a giant hug so fierce that Greg was beginning to feel extra pressure on his bones due to the superhuman strength of the others' grip upon Steven. Connie, however, chose to hang back as this was taking place, partly out of a desire for self-preservation, but mostly due to her requiring time to decide what she was going to do in the next few minutes.

Over the last 2 days since Steven's abduction, a series of confusing and strong emotions had plagued Connie; anxiety, guilt, regret, anger, fear, hope, and some other feeling she couldn't quite name which she'd probably figure out at some point. Due to these conflicting emotions, she considered many options as to how to respond to Steven's sudden reappearance. By the time the group hug ended, she had settled on two: kiss him, or slap him as hard as she possibly could.

"Connie!" Steven said as the others moved away from him, still partly in shock. "I-"

As he was cut off, the loud, resounding smack that shook the room when Connie's hand met Steven's left cheek made it clear to all parties involved that she had chosen the latter option.

Fortunately, Steven's gem physiology meant that the slap left very little in the way of damage on his face, but before Steven could ask what that was about, Connie, overcome with more pure rage than she'd felt at any other point in her life, grabbed his wrist and left him a warning:

"If you **ever** try to pull a stunt like that on me again, I'll-! I'll-!"

She would have gone on, but was forced to give up once all her vocal cords could produce for the time being were a series of racking sobs. Abandoning her previous course, she fell back on Plan C, clenching him with both of her hands and resting her head on his chest as she continued to cry. Steven nervously reciprocated, making sure not to do anything to aggravate her further. After a few seconds, he found himself crying as well.

The group said nothing for a few minutes, standing aside as Steven and Connie continued their tearful embrace. Eventually, the sobs of both parties died down, allowing the two to begin to converse.

"I-I can't believe you're actually here," Connie began, still shaking. "After that Homeworld ship took off, I thought you were going to...to..." The sobbing threatened to start again, but Connie managed to control herself.

"So did I," Steven replied. He wanted to say more, but once the realization that he could have very easily died on Homeworld sunk in, all he could do was whisper to himself, "So did I" and cry slightly.

There was likely a lot that could've been said in that moment. Maybe even one or two things that needed to be said. But, instead, the whole company stayed silent, entirely content with the fact that Steven was alive and well and not wanting for or caring about anything else.

However, at the same time as this reunion, others were far less fortunate...

:::

"Are...are they finally gone?"

This question, posed in an apprehensive tone by an Amethyst, known as 8XG, had been the unspoken question among all 61 of the gems aboard the damaged cargo transport.

Ever since they barely escaped Pink Diamond's Human Zoo with their lives two and a half days prior, they had been relentlessly pursued by a fleet of over thirty Roaming Eyes for several hours afterward. They soon found refuge in a nebula that managed to disrupt the Roaming Eyes' systems, while their own remained operational due to the freighter's improved shielding. With all the time in the world, the Roaming Eyes encircled the nebula's borders, intending to wait them out, and firing the occasional pot shot in a vain attempt to hit them.

After 2 days, however, as Yellow Diamond grew impatient with them, they were ordered to fire all weapons over as much of the nebula as possible in one last attempt to destroy them or else lure them out. Most of the shots missed, but one or two managed to hit the ship, causing moderate damage. Fortunately for them, one of the Roaming Eyes had drifted into the edge of the nebula and, believing the ship to be in front of them due to the nebula interfering with their sensor readings, they fired upon the ghost ship. At the same time, pieces of debris from the actual ship had been thrown across space until they drifted out of the nebula into view of the other Roaming Eyes. Convinced that the ship was destroyed in the barrage, the Rubies aboard each Roaming Eye set out to return to Yellow Diamond's flagship.

Six hours later, and there was still no sign of any Homeworld ships on the transport's sensors.

"I think so," their pilot, a Jasper named Skinny, replied. "I'm not detecting any other ships within 50 light years."

A collective sigh of relief swept the crew. At long last, they were finally safe. However, with that came another unspoken question that rose to the surface.

"What do we do now?" 8XL asked. Unlike the first question, this one proved to have several different possible answers.

"I think that's rather obvious," the crew's former overseer, Holly Blue Agate, stated, matter-of-factly. "We're going back to Homeworld."

This brought a variety of protests from the Quartzes.

"Are you crazy? We just barely escaped with our lives! If we go to Homeworld, we'd be shattered for sure!" 8XJ said.

"Our ship's too badly damaged to be able to risk it!" another added.

"Besides, even if she thinks we're dead, Yellow Diamond probably has the entire system being sweeped by Homeworld's orbital platforms in order to stop us from landing. We'd never make it down!" a third pointed out.

Holly Blue quickly grew tired of their input.

"Silence!" she screamed, causing all of them to cease immediately.

Once she was certain they were listening, she continued, "Don't forget who's in charge around here! My Diamond- **our** Diamond's life is at risk! If we don't warn her of Yellow Diamond's intentions, she could be put in danger!" She paused to let that sink in before asking, "Am I the only one who cares about that?"

Skinny moved away from the console and put her hand on her shoulder. Unlike when the Crystal Gems broke into the Zoo, Holly Blue didn't seem to spurn at the Quartz's touch.

"Of course not, Holly," Skinny said softly. "We want to protect Blue Diamond just as much as you do."

"Making a **lot** of assumptions there, Skinny," one of the Jaspers said under her breath, but a quick glare from Skinny precluded further comment.

"But the fact is, even assuming we hadn't been shot by Yellow Diamond and had shot straight for the nearest functional Galaxy Warp, we still would've come 2000 light years short," Skinny said. "The freighter was just about to be refueled when we made our escape. If we'd had another 6 hours..." she trailed off there, as no further comment was necessary. Holly grasped that there was no way they would've had six more hours before they could've left. Or, at the very least, **she** wouldn't have had six more hours before Yellow Diamond had her shattered.

Reluctantly, and after a long moment, Holly finally choked back a sob and said, "I understand."

The crew let her sit there in silence another moment, before Holly turned to Skinny and spoke yet again, saying, "What course would you suggest?"

Surprised at this delegation of authority to Skinny, who Holly had often regarded as the "most pathetic, worthless off-color Jasper of the lot," the crew wasn't sure how to respond. They looked about for a second, everyone mostly in agreement on their plan.

"Well…" Skinny replied, "Without the ability to get to or contact her on Homeworld, the only possible way we could do anything that might save her would be to try and stop Yellow from destroying Earth. It's about 2,000 light years away. We have just enough fuel to jump to the edge of its solar system before switching to auxiliary."

Holly seemed confused. "What good will saving Earth do?" she asked.

8XJ was quick with an answer. She said, in her typical blunt manner, "If Yellow was planning on turning on Blue, she wouldn't do it so soon after her theft of the Rose Quartzes. Bubbling her would increase suspicion once she didn't show up to her duties, and shattering her after Rose Quartz's trial and pinning it on her would probably just arouse further suspicion. It's very unlikely she'd move against Blue immediately. It seems more likely that she'd attack Earth soon, keeping the invasion a secret from the other Diamonds, and deal with Blue afterwards. If it were quick and painless, nobody would have to know, but if we could drag it out, or even defeat her initial invasion force, she'd either have to commit her own forces or give up. At that point, both options would alert the other Diamonds, and I have a feeling Blue wouldn't take too kindly to the fact that Yellow had lied to her about the fate of Pink's Rose Quartz soldiers."

"Exactly," Skinny said in approval. "At the very least, Blue wouldn't trust Yellow anymore, so she'd know to stay on her guard. And if we happened to steal the ship used to deploy them...

"We may be able to get to Homeworld and warn her," Holly finished.

"Exactly. What do you say?"

Holly thought for a minute. "Correct me if I'm wrong," she said, "but isn't Earth where those rebels who humiliated me originated from?"

The Quartzes shifted uncomfortably for a second before one of them spoke up and confirmed her suspicion.

She mulled over this for a moment before saying, with her disdain clearly evident, "I'm loathe to have to side with rebels, but it does seem like the only course available to us is to assist them in protecting their little speck." The other Quartzes decided not to comment on how she called their home a "speck." Not now, anyway.

She then asked, "Are you all in agreement?" to which she was met with a great deal more enthusiasm than she'd anticipated.

"Okay," 8XJ said. "How long until the repairs are complete?"

One of the Jaspers said, somewhat nervously, "Probably about one and a half rotations." Skinny nodded to confirm.

"Then it's settled." 8XJ declared. She paused for a second to check for any disagreement. There was none that she could see in the eyes of every Gem on the ship. Thus, she proceeded to finish her declaration:

"We're going home."

:::

"So you're telling me...Lars actually _died_?" Connie asked, shaken by the implications of what Steven had just told her. Not to mention the implications of all the other things Steven told her over the last 3 hours.

Steven nodded, leading to a collective gasp from the group. True, Greg, Connie, and Amethyst were the only ones who liked him, but nevertheless, the thought of any human being killed on Homeworld was rather tragic.

"But wait...you said that you got back home through Lion thanks to Lars," Amethyst said. "How did that happen?"

"Well," Steven began, "When I was holding Lars, one of my tears landed on his cheek and...healed him, somehow."

This drew another gasp.

"But...but that's impossible!" Pearl said. "Rose's healing tears were never so powerful as to completely revive beings who had passed on, human and Gem alike. And in any event, you'd never displayed these kinds of healing powers before. It doesn't make any sense!"

"The healing tears' power was affected by Rose's emotions," Garnet pointed out. "Steven's intense sadness at Lars' death might've increased their potency to the point where it could heal him. And if Steven can do it..." she pointed to Lion as she said this, "Rose probably could as well."

"Wait...you think Lion died at some point?" Amethyst asked.

"And must have been brought back to life by Rose's healing tears," Pearl finished. "Although how they granted Lion his abilities is beyond me."

"So now Lars has the same abilities as Lion?" Connie asked.

"Well, he's pink like Lion is. And his hair acts the same way as Lion's mane, so, probably," Steven answered.

"Regardless, we're getting off topic here," Pearl interjected. "Steven, you mentioned that you and Lars met some 'off-color' gems down in the abandoned Kindergarten. What were their names?"

"Well, there were the Rutile twins, Fluorite, Rhodonite, and Padparadscha," Steven replied.

"Rutile...twins?" Pearl asked.

"Oh, yeah. They were a Rutile who emerged in such a way that their two bodies were formed together into one."

"Like Siamese twins," Greg said.

Not knowing what Siamese twins were in order to confirm this observation, Steven chose to simply continue, "Rhodonite is a fusion of two gems, and Fluorite is a fusion of six."

"Six gems? Fused together all of the time?" Pearl asked, amazed.

"I can't even imagine what that'd be like," Amethyst said. "I mean, it takes a lot just for Alexandrite to stay together, and that's only four."

Garnet just nodded and muttered, "Hm, yes. Very interesting."

"And what about Padparadscha?" Connie asked. "I've never heard of a gem like that."

"Well, she's a kind of Sapphire, but she can only see visions of things that just happened," Steven answered.

"Hm, yes. I'd heard about Sapphires like that before the war," Garnet said. Everyone turned to look at her as she added, "They tended to meet rather gruesome fates."

"All the more reason for getting them off of Homeworld as soon as possible," Connie said, to the agreement of all. "But it's getting late. I better get back home before my mom sends a rescue party." She chuckled half heartedly, but seemed to be the only one there who really found the joke funny.

"I'll take you," Steven said. He gestured to Lion, who was waiting down at the beach, to come up to the steps. The group seemed hesitant about this, with the strange exception of Connie. Steven rushed to reassure them. "Relax, guys. I'm not about to disappear again."

With that, Connie bid the group adieu, with Steven following suit as they walked down the beach. Garnet couldn't help but notice that Connie was in a particular rush to leave. She also seemed to keep as much distance from Steven as possible.

:::

 _Things are not gonna be easy for them,_ Garnet told herself.

 _ **Nope. Things definitely aren't going to be easy**_ , she responded. _**They'll be okay in the end, though, right?**_

 _The possibilities do seem to favor that outcome. But-oh. It would appear that the ultimate time of that outcome's arrival has...shifted slightly._

Garnet groans audibly, as if disappointed in what someone had said in front of her. The others paid no mind to it.

 _ **Steven and his big mouth**_ , Garnet thought.

Even though she didn't physically do it, Garnet could feel her wink in her mind. A knowing wink. A wink whose existence is testament to a host of experiences.

 _Indeed_ , Garnet replied, smiling ever briefly, but also with a hint of concern. _I just hope the odds remain in his favor._

 _ **Same**_.

"Thinking to yourself again?" Pearl asked, with a slight knowing smile of her own. When you know someone like Garnet for nearly six thousand years, you tend to tell when such things are going on.

Garnet chuckled slightly. "Yep."

"Well, I'd hate to interrupt, but we need to discuss something," Pearl said.

Garnet moved to the couch by the window next to Amethyst as Pearl moved towards the dishwasher, intent on cleaning the dishes while discussing this matter.

"Should I go?" Greg asked.

"I'd appreciate it if you stayed for now, Greg," Pearl said.

"Agreed," Garnet said. "This concerns you as well."

"Um...okay. What is it we need to talk about, exactly?" Greg asked.

"The elephant in the room, of course," Garnet replied. "The trial."

The room fell silent as everyone looked at Garnet.

After a moment, Pearl said, "Precisely. We need to prepare for what might come in the near future."

Greg sat up a bit straighter from his counter seat at this. "'What might come?' What do you mean by that?"

The Crystal Gems fell silent. Greg got the meaning clearly enough.

"You don't mean-"

"We have to consider the possibility of a serious invasion," Pearl said matter-of-factly. "Blue Diamond may have been hesitant to destroy this planet or harm many of its inhabitants, but it's clear that Yellow Diamond has no such reservations. Her continued attempts to hasten the trial and...shatter Steven...is evidence enough of that."

"Hang on," Amethyst interjected, "Don't they think the Cluster is still armed and ready to blow us all up? Why would they bother attacking us if, as far as they know, the planet's about to explode anyway?"

"Fair point, Amethyst," Pearl said. "Several reasons present themselves. For one, they didn't end up getting any humans for their zoo when they sent a two gem group. They could easily come back with a larger force to try and get more. And considering how badly we fared against the first agents they sent..."

Garnet continued grimly, "Not to mention that they don't know whether or not the planet's inhabitants could escape into space. They haven't bothered to keep up to date on human technology, or bothered to check if anything they left on Earth was capable of space travel. They'd want to make sure not a single life form was left alive."

The room was quiet for a moment before Amethyst finally said, "Ah. Right."

"So what are you going to do?" Greg asked.

Yet another brief few seconds of silence, before Amethyst spoke up, "Well..."

Everyone looked at her for a second, surprised that she seemed to be the one with a plan. She took a second to gather her thoughts before continuing.

"Look, we'd all love for this to just be another few guys we can beat up like usual without Homeworld ever knowing about it, but even an idiot would understand that we're done with that at this point. Whatever those Diamond dorks send is bound to be big, or at least bigger than anything we've faced so far."

The group nodded. It was sound logic, quick and to the point.

Pearl continued, "And if they send anyone like Aquamarine, or a large squadron of those Topazes or Agates, we're as good as dead. We simply don't have the numbers or the strength to fight something like that, even as Alexandrite."

"Which means one thing," Garnet cut in before the group could get too somber, "We need allies."

Pearl and Amethyst looked at her quizzically for a minute, but Greg was quick to come up with an idea.

"What if we got the government to help? It would take a lot of convincing, but if we got them behind us, we could take an invasion any day of the week!"

"You seem to have overestimated their capabilities," Pearl interjected. "Their weapons technology is less advanced than ours was six thousand years ago. They'd only be marching onward to their deaths."

"Still, we cannot reject the possibility," Garnet said.

"Frankly, if we weren't so desperate, I wouldn't have even said _that_ much regarding the plan. I don't want to involve any humans in whatever conflict arises unless it's absolutely necessary. It'd be far too dangerous for them, and the less people explicitly aware of Homeworld's existence, the better."

"I don't know if it's all that bad," Amethyst says, "After all, we'd have you and Peridot helping them out. And this 'government' has, like, a bajillion dollars it can use, right?" Amethyst asks Greg.

"Something like that, yeah."

"Which means they'd be able to get all the stuff you two would need to build a whole bunch of super powerful weapons."

"That's a good point," Greg chimes in, "I mean, Pearl, you built a spaceship out of a bunch of old aviator parts. With a proper budget..."

"We'll consider bringing humans into this a last resort," Garnet finally decides. "In the meantime, we should focus on who else we can find."

The possibilities weren't too promising.

"Well, if we still can't heal Centipeetle, we should be able to get her and her crew to fight for us as is," Pearl proposes.

"Indeed. They were a great help when we tried to repair the airship," Garnet adds. "We should have Steven or Connie warp back and see if they can't convince them."

"You think we'd have any luck with the other corrupted gems?" Amethyst asks.

"Doubtful. Centipeetle and her crew are the only ones Steven's built a connection with. The rest would likely rampage all over the place and attack everything," Pearl says before thinking of something, " _Including_ Homeworld's forces. Yes, that may prove useful."

"Would that be...ethical, though?" Greg asks, "I mean, with Centi, she chose to help us back at the dropship. These guys, they wouldn't have a choice in the matter, and if they get shattered...that's on us." He pauses for a second before continuing, "I know this is a battle we're talking about here, but...I don't know, it just feels wrong to use them like that."

"I sympathize, Greg, but we may not have a choice," Garnet says. "We'll table that idea until we know for sure what we're up against. Perhaps this latest development may have permanently strengthened Steven's healing abilities to the point where he could at least temporarily heal some of them."

"Like Jasper?" Amethyst asks.

The room falls silent for a moment.

"Perhaps. Although it seems...unlikely that she'd be willing to help us," Garnet says consolingly, aware of how Amethyst feels on the subject.

"Yeah...you're probably right," Amethyst says resignedly.

"And the only other Gem left around who might help us is-"

"Bismuth," Amethyst finishes for Pearl. "I think we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"So it sounds like the only ones who could help us are Lars and his friends," Greg concludes.

Pearl nods. "At the moment, they're our best bet. They may not have combat experience, but any gems who don't want us dead are good allies at this point."

"And a human with Lion's abilities would be a powerful force indeed," Garnet adds.

"So what are we waiting for?" Amethyst asks as she gets up. "Let's go through Lion and grab them already!"

"Agreed. We must make preparations immediately!" Pearl says. Having a solid plan was a feeling Pearl missed dearly over the last few days. The rush it provides is exhilarating. "Greg, you find Steven and Connie and tell them of our plan! Amethyst, you go find Lion! I'll begin assembling rations for the journey! Garnet-"

"You may run into a couple problems with that plan at present," Garnet interjects.

Pearl stops for a minute.

"Why?"

"I had a vision once Steven left that approximately 4 minutes ago, Steven and Connie would get into an argument, the culmination of which would be Connie leaving on Lion to spend some time alone and Steven not being in any rush to go anywhere. Matter of fact…"

As she says this, Pearl could spot Steven morosely trudging up the steps towards the door. Pearl opens it for him and he walks inside.

"Everything okay, Stu-ball?" Greg asks.

Steven rubs his eyes a bit.

"Connie...Connie needs some time alone right now," is all he can say. He doesn't want to mention how the guilt over his giving himself up is reverberating tenfold in his head, or how Connie took Lion, or how she's probably shut off her phone so he can't reach her and she probably never wants to see him again because he's a stupid idiot who almost got himself killed because of his ridiculous hero complex and he'll never get to tell her-!

"Ah," Greg says, knowing exactly what's going through his head at the moment. "Well, the best thing you can do is just give her some space and let her work things out however she will, you know?"

"...Yeah. I-I think I understand," he says, somewhat lying.

"For now, though, you ought to get some rest. Why don't you go get ready for bed, huh, sport?"

"But what about the-" Pearl tries to interject, but Greg, Garnet, and Amethyst all look at her. Pearl gets the message- _not now_ -and promptly shuts up.

By this point, Steven's already closed the door. It's quiet for a minute, but Pearl can hear his shallow breathing as he fumbles for his toothbrush. She wants to help him, but she isn't sure what else to do aside from what Greg suggested. _Ugh, why do these human relationships have to be so confusing?_ She thinks to herself frustratingly. She walks outside, Greg following suit.

"Of all the times for something like this to happen, with the fate of the world at stake..." Pearl mutters.

Greg chuckles.

"Yeah, well, that's love for you."

Pearl looks at him. She can't say she's entirely surprised-parents tend to have a certain sense about these things when it comes to their children. She takes a brief second to ponder over how she so easily came to think of herself as one of Steven's parents. Still, in spite of this, she's slightly annoyed at that statement.

Greg finishes the thought with, "To him, at least...she _is_ the world."

:::

And there you have it, folks. The story is starting to progress and, as the title implies, the ripples of what happened in the prologue are starting to set events into motion. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it progressing from now on. I'm hesitant to provide a date for Chapter 2, but I believe I'll set up a deadline anyway: by the end of this month. Here's hoping I'll be able to meet it.

With all that said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts and criticisms below, and perhaps check out some of my other work. I hope you all have a great day, and take care.


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